FORT LUPTON — Fort Lupton was diagnosed with a clean bill of financial health following an audit of the city’s 2013 financial statements.

Justin Petrone, of Clifton, Larson and Allen, LLP, of Broomfield, offered a brief overview of the recent and clean audit to Fort Lupton City council members July 7 at City Hall.

Petrone, whose firm took over for a predecessor auditor who had completed the audit for this year, said it was a pleasure working with Fort Lupton’s staff in compiling the report, which showed the city to be in compliance with state and federal mandates.

Not only did the city get a clean audit report, but it also received the Government Finance Officers Association’s Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting.

Along with showing general compliance, Petrone said the audit report also provides city officials with about 10 years of “trend data” that will afford city officials the opportunity to “get a pretty interesting sense of how the city has grown, is being shaped, and has progressed throughout the years.”

Petrone said, while his firm did not test the city’s “internal controls,” he said his firm’s review found those controls to be “correct and consistent.”

While the report was mostly positive, Petrone said it also includes recommendations from his firm that he feels can help better even the best financial reporting.

“We don’t look at these as huge negatives, but rather as opportunities for improvement,” he said. “We think, as part of any good audit, there should be some (recommendations), as we come in with different perspective and a clean set of eyes. Everything is in the spirit of opportunity for improvement.”

New Platteville IGA

At the behest of planning director Todd Hodges, city council members unanimously approved a new Intergovernmental agreement between Fort Lupton and their neighbors to the north, Platteville.

Hodges told council members the new agreement will replace the original one established in 2000 and will be a better fit with the city’s Three Mile Area and current Comprehensive Plan.

The new agreement will “give the City more flexibility and a greater planning area than the one established in 2000.”

According to information regarding the resolution, the agreement will allow both parties participate in “joint planning and land use and development of future growth areas,” and will harbor “orderly growth and quality development” where reasonable, while also preserving the “rural nature of certain geographical areas.”

Hodges said he and his staff were very proud of the agreement.

“This is something we worked very hard on,” he said. “I don’t know of any IGA similar to this … and if it’s approved, it does increase our area (included in) the Comprehensive Plan.”

Hodges said he believed Platteville council members had adopted the new agreement in late June or early July.

Other business

• An annexation agreement proposed in April by Halliburton was finalized and approved by council members after being pushed back last council meeting for amendment.

Hodges said the annexation agreement is for about 20-plus acres near Halliburton’s existing site near county roads 8 and 27, and it includes a Union Pacific Railroad Company’s right-of-way to the east, according to a copy of the amended agreement.

Hodges said Halliburton’s annexation request “matches current zoning for the area,” which is zoned I-2 for heavy industrial.

• Per a request from Public Works Director Marco Carani, council approved a $49,493 contract for Colorado Concrete Contractors for a variety of concrete work along Rollie Avenue.

Carani said the contractors are the very same who were awarded a nearly $90,000 contract in early May for summer paving throughout the city, including Rollie Avenue. He said this contract will cover various other concrete projects including sidewalk and gutter work and approved handicap ramps along Rollie Avenue.

Carani said the idea is to have the company complete that concrete work along Rollie before they begin paving throughout Fort Lupton over the remainder of the summer.

Carani said the city had originally budgeted $75,000 for the Rollie Avenue miscellaneous concrete work, more than $25,000 over what the bid came in at.